Market Expansion

COMACO: Providing Local Market Access for the Most Rurally Isolated Farmers!

COMACO’s efforts at market expansion have taken a number of approaches:

1. Depot and CTC expansion programs
2. Value added product growth (sales growth and product line expansion)
3. Marketing efforts (ads, green market)

DEPOT AND CTC EXPANSION PROGRAMS
COMACO depots represent an important focus for what COMACO seeks to achieve through its partnership with the producer community, namely improved livelihoods and increased conservation.  As such, they serve as important community hubs for both training and trade.  There are now a total of 37 depots serving all three functioning CTCs in Eastern Province and collectively they provide a total storage capacity of 2060 tons.  In 2008, COMACO convened over 300 field-field events at these depots with normal attendance ranging from 100 to 250 people.  In addition, depot staff and CTC support staff bulked, purchased, and shipped over 1500 tons of raw commodities from these depots to their respective trading centres.

Mfuwe and Lundazi have achieved full operational capacity for producing a full range of products at production levels adequate to attain net positive cash flows.  Reinforcing their operations is a COMACO Head Office that provides a range of back-up support logistics, including accounting, marketing, procurements, monitoring and evaluation, and internal auditing.  In 2008 COMACO developed a fully integrated and computerized purchase order, procurement and dispatch system to facilitate an accountable transfer of goods and assets to and from the CTCs.

VALUE ADDED PRODUCT GROWTH
Supporting COMACO’s product development is its own Food Product and Quality Control Research Section, based in Lundazi and headed by Food Technologist, Jimmy Chikahya.

Over the past six months, COMACO has made a strong commitment to building an expanded consumer demand for IT’S WILD!  products and resulted in a doubling of sales compared to total sales for 2008.  These efforts were led by COMACO’s Market and Sales Manager and his sales staff with a strong level of team involvement by all senior members of the COMACO staff.   Sales during this period (Apr-Dec) was ZMK 4,889,412,645, compared to ZMK 2,671,533,410 for the entire fiscal year of 2008 (1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009).  Monthly sales for the remaining months of the 2009 fiscal year are expected to average above ZMK800 million.

Existing products are continually being improved - To increase consumer demand for Yummy Soy, COMACO has begun testing different flavors (Pine-apple, banana, and strawberry).  Consumer demand for IT’S WILD! peanut butter is growing; the product now has shrink sleeves around the lid for increased safety against tampering, and a larger, wide-neck size container of 1.2 kg.  Additional products are being investigated, including broiler mash, crunchy snack puffs, energy bars and soya milk!

MARKETING EFFORTS
COMACO is expanding the market for our various products in a variety of ways.

First – there’s the COMACO family selling outlets throughout the Luangwa Valley. Small sales areas have been opened in the Mfuwe International Airport, and at walk-up locations throughout the Luangwa Valley. While initial sales in the area were small, the recently opened Green Market in Mfuwe targets the booming safari tourism industry with sales to over a dozen major, high budget lodges in the valley.  By reducing costs for bringing fresh farm produce to the Green Market, lodges now have a cheaper, fresher source of vegetables and farm produce than previous shipments from Lusaka.  In turn, community producers have a reliable market and added incentive to produce dry season crops to sustain both family food and income needs.   The Green Market is attractively designed to welcome tourists and visitors to view displays about COMACO and to also buy COMACO processed branded food products.  In its first year, the Green Market supported markets for about 250 vegetable producers.  In 2010, this number will likely triple.  Efforts are also underway to initiate mango orchards of a much improved variety that will add considerable potential income for orchard managers through the Green Market.

Second – there’s the sales force, seeking out opportunity through Zambia. A team of all-Zambian local and Lusaka-based sales and marketing staff now play a key role in expanding the sales of IT'S WILD! Most of the IT’S WILD! products are now available through established outlets of Shoprite, Spar and other privately owned supermarkets across the country.

Institutional and bulk sales accounted for only about 3% of the total sales, however, this represents a growth area for the future. The volume of commodities produced by COMACO farmers has far exceeded the quantity needed for the IT’S WILD! product line, and efforts are now underway to build on the experience from last year when COMACO initiated its first commodity market sales of ZMK 570,636,000.   Recently, COMACO has approached a number of prominent grain buyers, most especially  AFGRI, ZDANAKIE, Cargill,  and FVG Milling, as well as World Food Programme.   In 2009 COMACO sold commodities through the Zambia Commodities Exchange and used an established broker, Savanna Commodities. Other platforms used to market our commodities included our participation at the Zambia International Trade Fair in Ndola, the Zambia Agricultural and commercial Show in Lusaka as well as the Global Expo in Gaborone, Botswana. Going forward into 2010, COMACO’s strategy will be to cut down on the number of middlemen in the supply-chain by selling directly to reputable grain buyers.  Discussions with Cargill suggest that COMACO will receive favorable pricing for large tonnages of soybeans and groundnuts for markets in South Africa.

Third, there’s the IT’S WILD! ad campaign which includes radio, TV and print media. The COMACO head office has succeeded in building an important network of contacts in the marketing and advertising sector to learn new opportunities and ways to enhance marketing efforts.  These efforts have enabled COMACO to initiate for the first time a concerted campaign of marketing and advertising with careful allocation of limited financial resources.